QUINCY - The case of Quincy’s mysteriously appearing veterans records has been solved.

They fell off a truck, police say.

Quincy police Detective Thomas Pepdjonovic said surveillance footage from two weeks ago behind Quincy High School shows what he believes to be city veterans records falling off the back of a delivery truck belonging to Shred King of Quincy.

On April 22, dozens of old city records dating as far back as the 1950s, some containing private information about individual veterans, such as Social Security numbers and benefit claims, were found strewn across the intersection of Russell Park and Woodward Avenue behind Quincy High School. They were found the same day Shred King had picked up about 85 boxes of unneeded records from the veterans services’ offices at 24 High School Ave., which is located about eight-tenths of a mile from Russell Park.

After interviewing witnesses and watching surveillance, Pepdjonovic determined the records fell off the Shred King truck at about 3:51 p.m. on April 22 while the driver was trying to find a parking spot so he could pick up his wife.

Mayor Thomas Koch asked police to investigate how the records got loose because no one could explain how it happened. Pepdjonovic said no criminal charges would come from the probe.

“I’m relieved that it showed that no city employee screwed up, which is what everyone assumed at the very beginning,” said City Clerk Joseph Shea, the city’s keeper of public records.

Christopher Walker, a spokesman for Koch, has said he doesn’t believe the veterans records getting loose led to any security breaches.

The incident struck a nerve with some in Quincy because it came a month after another controversy involving public-records. On March 10, a reporter observed two public works department employees illegally burning city records in the DPW yard at 55 Sea St.

After the veterans records were found, Brian Spillane, a manager for Shred King, said there was no way the records fell off the truck because the company’s trucks are secure and there was no reason for the driver to be in the Russell Park area. The driver should have traveled directly from the veterans services office to Shred King’s shredding facility in Holbrook.

Spillane told police that the driver has worked at Shred King for more than six months and was a good employee. Also, he said his company never had an issue with items falling of trucks.

Henry Bradley, the city’s acting director of veterans services, said his department handled the records carefully and watched as Shred King’s driver secured them in the back of his truck.

These accounts raised suspicions that perhaps someone had stolen the vets records and intentionally spread them in public. Along with the police probe, Koch ordered the locks at the veterans office be upgraded.

Page 2 of 2 - Pepdjonovic said he interviewed the Shred King driver after seeing the footage that seemingly showed the papers falling off the truck. The driver said that after he picked up the vets records on April 22, he drove around Quincy Center, including on Russell Park, to find a parking spot to pick up his wife from work.

The driver told police he started driving back to Holbrook after picking up his wife when he hit a bump in the road and noticed a lock on the back grate of the truck had dislodged and was open. He said he could not secure the back grate so he put on his hazard lights and drove slowly back to Holbrook. He reported seeing no documents flying outside the truck.

When reached by phone Thursday, Spillane said he didn’t want to comment on the police report because he hadn’t read it yet.